TheGeoChronicles

A side tumblr devoted to my fascination with nature! instagram: TheGeoChronicles

[stealthrockdamage-deactivated20]

2018 has been four years long. that shitty ugandan knuckles meme happened in january of this year. oh my god. i want to get off mr bones wild ride

[thegeochronicles]

Do u know de wae off Mr. Bones' wild ride?

[thegeochronicles]

Update on the Grammostola pulchripes:

Following the moult, cuddles' colour has come back vividly and they're doing well as can be seen, with every subsequent moult they look more and more male so from now on they will be refferred to as he unless I can confirm the sex definitively. Today I tried him with a small dubia and watered the enclosure, he didn't show any interest in the roach so I left it in to see if he wanted it later but all in all a successful moult!

[thegeochronicles]

Sold to me as Holothele incei (however name seems to vary between that and Neoholothele) initially purchased as an attempted first communal setup which, as is often the case in the tarantula hobby, ended poorly and after a fatality they were separated. Interesting to me is the secrecy and amount of webbing of this species. Here it can be seen that the T has left it's burrow to perform web maintenance, as I destroy part of the web removing the lid, the T will come out every time in the evening to 'fix' what i've destroyed.

Apologies for poor picture quality, this was taken this evening on my phone, this time of year the UK gets dark quite quickly, by about 4 or 5pm.

[thegeochronicles]

Recently moulted grammastola pulchripes (chaco golden knee).

I had the privilege of seeing cuddles the chaco golden knee perform ecdysis whilst I was on the phone to my boyfriend, I missed the flip but caught her (hopefully her) on her back with her legs twitching before going completely still. This usually alarms novice keepers as the tarantula appears dead, however the T is in fact undergoing a process of inducing a hydraulic pressure change, pushing fluid out of its soft tissue to increase hydraulic pressure within the exoskeleton to cause it to fail along inbuilt lines of weakness and essentially 'pop' the lid of the cephalothorax and exit out. The old exoskeleton (now called exuviae) is discarded and the tarantula now appears slightly wrinkled as it has not completely filled out it's new exoskeleton. Following a period of hardening, which varies by species and size, the tarantula's exoskeleton darkens and it resumes usual activity.

[thegeochronicles]

My A.candefacta decided to burst from the enclosure and I was curious as to why, after removing uneaten food I discovered why, the enclosure was stricken with an infestation of what I think are Riccardoella limacum or snail mites. These mites feed of gastropod blood and are thought to also bore into the snail to feed, they can be brought in on food. No wonder he felt the need to escape! But I already have a colony of hypoastis mile mites which will predate the snail mites and are currently the most effective method of controlling the parasitic mites. Washing the enclosure out also helps, however the mites will enter the pnemostome (hole in the side of a snails "head" or mantle through which they breathe) and so predatory mites will also enter here after the snail mites.

This shows the extent of the infection which was none existent just a few days ago. I will post an update once the predatory mites have been put in the enclosure.

[meetmeonthecraton]

When you’re upset but also kinda over it

[thegeochronicles]

Amazing 😂

[thegeochronicles]

some of the rocks I collected on a fieldtrip to Cyprus earlier this year at the end of my bachelors degree

[thegeochronicles]

my new snail A.Candefacta trying to break out of the pot he was shipped in, I guess you could say he was putting his foot down about being shipped through the post! ;)

[thegeochronicles]

My juvenile Venezuelan sun tiger (Psalmopoeus irminia) chillin, she (I think) is about 4.5″ diagonal leg span just having a good time patrolling her enclosure. 

[thegeochronicles]

You good bro?- Heterometrus spinifer attempting to climb the wall of the enclosure, this is the first time i've observed him being this active, he is not in any discomfort and has plenty of room to move, he just seems to enjoy that wall a whole lot...